Posts by Lynley Chapman
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to David Haywood,
Details obsessed in genealogy is a very good attribute...
This data was from an old NZ Genealogical Society Index CD, Version 5 which has been superseded. Not sure I can do better than this for you at the moment.
I have put the word out to see if the Women only 1893 Electoral Roll (compiled post suffrage legislation) is available anywhere online. I've only ever seen it on Micro fiche and indexed on this CD.
I will get back to you once I get an answer or perhaps Steve or another sleuth can offer help here.
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to SteveH,
"My" Pemley is a great name to trace, "my" John MORRISON not so much....
Goose chases up the wrong tree and those gnarly brick walls all add to the genie soup for sure Steve.
Asking questions, talking to others and sharing head scratching data all helps I find in my genie work.
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to SteveH,
Other more learned and experienced genealogists have told me that Census records are rarely accurate - transcription errors, enumerators having difficult with accents/dialects, literacy issues amongst the population, people not having calendars to mark birthdays and the passing years, informants making errors, family members using names for people in the household that differ from officially registered names.....just to keep us all with plenty to think about in our research:-)
As you say Steve it is so often joining matches up from a wide range of sources.
Your work here looks convincing that we have Eliza Ann/e's birth family.
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to David Haywood,
BTW Chapman Street has no connection to my husband's family - an illegitimate baby and an "adoption" within the family in a very suspicious set up saw Chapman become the surname.....if only someone could find some documents in the wainscoting in a house in Dunedin and confirm my hypothesis on what really happened back in 1874...
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to David Haywood,
Exciting to hear from a near relative to one branch of this puzzle.
A genealogist sources all their data for each person in the tree as Dianne had mentioned. So in some cases the scientist in you could be well satisfied but in other cases not so much due to the vagaries of human behaviour.
The addiction that is genealogy is very much like completing jigsaws in my experience. Although even if the jigsaw appears to be complete a new piece of information can often emerge. And there are always questions forming.......
Hold the purse strings for now.....more may yet come to light from other sources.
As for funding legal matters - interesting thoughts from you on that. Eliza seemed to know her legal rights although sadly her two choices of husband were not positive ones.
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to David Haywood,
In my experience with genealogy there needs to be a lot of source checking and seeking out a wide range of sources and then joining of dots to get confirmation that you have the right person. Even official documents, such as death certificates can be inaccurate due the informant's misinformation or individuals wanting to fudge things such as ages on marriage certificates, war attestations.
Paying for certificates does have to happen at times. In NZ we are up against a DIA policy of expunging details such as illegitimacy off birth certificates, even dating back to the 1870s. We gnash our teeth over this policy but that is the way it is.
Purchasing all the birth certificates that appear to pertain to Eliza Ann/e Webb may push knowledge ahead but that is not guaranteed.
The example you offer with explanations are all possible at the moment - eliminating options is another big part of genealogy.
Returning to the original birth record micro-fiches(held in lots of Public Libraries around the country) to check Berty's birth may offer a hint at adoption if there is a second registration number and year pencilled in next to his birth details.
ChCh Public Library would be a good place to visit and ask for the Family History Librarian/s or the volunteers who are often far more experienced at genealogy than I am.
I have had some great finds on the Funeral Director's records for my ancestors - they can contain a wealth of information and they are generally free of charge. There are some records that have been lost due to a company no longer existing- not for the lack of clients one would think:-)
Finding a direct, living, knowledgeable descendant can often be the best way of finding the "real oil". So far there has been silence off the NZ Rootsweb email group pertaining to WEBB/WINTER/ALINGTON/KENNARD, bar one woman who was going to contact a distant rellie who might know something.
Another puzzle in my head is how did Eliza Ann/e fund a divorce and lawyers for court cases when destitute. Did she have a benefactor? Perhaps the good Captain?
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to Petra Jane,
I agree. I am wondering how Geo Alington and the father/s of Horace and Bertie Alfred treated her.
Eliza appears to be on her own in the 1905/6 Electoral rolls which record her as living at 9 Dean St and Fred Kennard at Park Rd, St Albans, carpenter
In 1900 electoral rolls they are recorded as living at the same address.
There is an Inquest file at Archives into Fred's suicide in 1908.
In an potential "trip up your research" coincidence, the Mother of Bertie (presumably his adoptive mother) is also named Eliza. 1919 electoral rolls show Bertie, a tailor, back from the war and living in Nelson Cres, Napier with Eliza Forster, who he named as NOK at this address in his Attestation file. His birth mother Eliza seems to have generally used her second name "Ann/e" for official docs which is very helpful when trying to weed things out.
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I nipped into the library while out this morning. The microfiche birth records in our local library ( transcribed manually from the birth registers, not digitally scanned as the online records today are) give the birth of Hilda Annie WEBB being registered in Christchurch in the first quarter of 1892. So the birthday in December 1891 looks very sound.
I could not find Eliza Ann residing with Mr Alington, as his housekeeper, on electoral rolls but I did not have all the relevant data with me.
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http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=TC19080323.2.13.2
Link to suicide in March 1908, in Christchurch of Frederick KENNARD. More tough times for Eliza possibly.
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to Hebe,
Ditto :-)